Age Doesn't Stop Belief
by Angel Ayami
Summary: Two weeks before Christmas, a young adult can see the Guardians, how is it possible? The answer is simple; age is simply a number it doesn't stop one from believing.
1. Chapter 1

Rise of the Guardians Fanfiction: Age Doesn't Stop Belief

Disclaimer: Dreamworks has full right to the Rise of the Guardians characters, this however is simply a story fanmade. If you do not like this, please be polite and leave, or hit the small x buttons. For those who do want to see, read on.

Age Doesn't Stop Belief

By Angel Ayami

Chapter 1: Voice Be Discovered

**Everyone has spoken before that at a certain age, it's time to learn to grow up, let go of any imagination, any presence of childhood belief. At an age parents always attempted to rationalize with their children that the stories they have spoken of are untrue, just imagination. To them, Santa, Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, even the Sandman; are just simply figments of imagination. However, there are some older who still hold onto that tiny bit of belief inside their hearts, rare as they come, believe that those figures they cared about since the age of a child do exist…and sometimes if they're lucky…get to experience seeing them for themselves.**

The cold wind rushed in the short blonde hair of a 20 year old girl as she was staring over the side of a beautiful, more modern, red sleigh, looking down at the faint glitters of yellow dots of lights from cities below. Her crystal colored blue eyes were nearly sparkling at the sight of such a beautiful landscape, fingers clutching the edge, only to jump when she felt his hand against her shoulder. The hand was cold as ice to the feel, but something that didn't matter as she looked back at the pale face of the blue eyed, white as snow haired Jack Frost who kept a cane in his other hand, a mischievous smile playing across his lips. "Want to go down a little closer?" his voice asked softly and she briefly nodded.

"Yeah." Was her response as her hand held onto his, using it as balance from the still moving sleigh. Jack still had that playful smile as he rest one of his feet against the edge.

"You be careful with her now lad, last thing we need is one of her kind to end up badly damaged." The Russian accented voice of North spoke from the front and both in the back gave a faint roll of their eyes. Jack slipped his arm around the girl's waistline.

"Always will." He replied to North as he felt her arms wrap securely around his neck, warm to the touch against his icy cold skin. "Be back in no time, we'll catch up." With that said he took a leap off the sleigh with the girl in tow, feeling the rush of air before Wind caught him with ease and they were moving through the air as if they weighed nothing more than a pair of snowflakes.

_Now, I believe most of you reading this are probably wondering how this all came to be, right? Well, to make it easier on you, let's go back to December 11__th__, two weeks before Christmas, all will be explained in due time._

~o~o~

It was cold in the city of Seattle, Washington with thick blankets of snow covering from the streets up to the top of the city's Space Needle. All of this was courtesy of Jack Frost, who was perched atop the landmark his bare feet in the snow as his cane was held in his hand staring at the handiwork he had created with the help of the wind. The bitter nighttime air was crisp and cold, a peaceful smile came to his lips as he closed his eyes it wasn't bad for this season's work. He got kids to have fun and enjoy the snow day whether it was on the streets or in their own backyards until they were called back inside as the night came at five in the afternoon, temperatures would drop low to this city of steel. Of course, it wasn't complete without his fair bit of fun until all the bundled up children were safe and warm inside their homes. Softly exhaling, he opened his eyes and hopped off from the roof of the space needle and reached to the glass of the halted round structure on the metal beam that supported it in the air, lifting a finger and traced intricate patterns of frost upon the windows humming softly to himself as he moved around it to give the glass a nice coating.

After his work upon the structure he chose to walk the telephone lines, letting his cane drag along the wires and left thin coats of glittering white in the moon's light. It's been a good few months since he took his oath and joined the rank of the Guardians, Jack still continued to live his life as a nomadic type leaving frost and snow wherever he went…as long as the season was right that was the only restriction. Oh, and as long as it didn't blend into the Easter Sunday (Bunnymund would have his ass harder than a boiled egg). Christmas was just around the corner, two weeks from now to be exact and he would enjoy watching as people were rushing like chickens with their heads cut off for the most perfect bargains (he enjoyed Black Friday most) all for their children and family. Of course, there was always the help from North, good old Saint Nicholas who he knew on a personal note since Pitch Black arrived months ago, but none of the adults knew that. Jack stopped in midstride along the wire, watching some of the adults go by ladened with toys, games, candy, sometimes even clothes hiding in the shopping bags, adults never believed in them couldn't see the Guardians as children could. The most rotten thing of all is when the parents told the kids at a certain age that they didn't exist, made them stop believing. It made him sick to think about it as he clutched his cane in a much tighter grip…there was always that pain if he overheard such a thing as what those young kids believed in for so long was crushed in a single sentence. Oh the tears he has seen…he blinked and shook his head quickly to rid himself of those thoughts.

Jack was about to continue his stroll, perhaps ask the wind to return him home but he was stopped when he heard the faint sound of song coming through the speakers. He had heard all before but this sounded like something being sung live. Jumping from his perch he made a small float over to a quaint little café that he was nearby, listening to the sound of the piano being played.

_Where are you Christmas?_

_ Why can't I find you?_

_ Why have you gone away…?_

_ Where is the laughter _

_You used to bring me?_

_ Why can't I hear music play…?_

Jack was listening to the melody and he reached a hand up and wiped away the frost from the windows on the outside, looking inside to a good view of a blonde haired young woman, hair cropped short to the neck, bangs held back by a pin with a bit of holly in it as her fingers graced the keys of the piano, her voice carrying through the microphone that was hooked up to the stereos filled inside and the out.

_Does that mean Christmas changes too?_

_ Where are you Christmas?_

_ Do you remember?_

_ The one you used to know…_

_ I'm not the same one…_

He looked and blinked as the tune became a bit louder and he took the opportunity to swing himself into the small building, warm as it was, bringing in a cold breeze causing the man to curse and Jack settled against the wall listening more clearly.

_Is that why you have let me…go?_

_ Christmas is here._

_ Everywhere!_

_ Christmas is here!_

_If you care!_

_If there is love in your heart and mind._

_ You'll feel like Christmas all the time._

_ I feel you Christmas_

_ I know I found you_

_ You never fade away_

_ The joy of Christmas_

_ Stays here inside us_

_ Fills each and every heart with…_

_ Love…_

_ Where are you Christmas?_

_ Fill your heart with love…_

At the end of her soft hum everyone in the room gave a round of gentle applause, Jack included, the cane resting in the crook of his arm. Though he wondered if it would matter, by this time most of the room was filled with adults. She stood up and bowed a little, brushing some hair away from her eye, but she paused as her eyes caught sight of the winter white haired spirit that had been watching. Jack paused a little when he caught her gaze…could she…see him? Among this crowd…shouldn't he had been nothing more than invisible? She shook her head a little and went over to the mike and brought it down a little. "Thank you for listening everyone, but it seems my time here is up for tonight, come by again tomorrow if you want to hear more. For now we'll go back to the CD's." she spoke, her voice gentle with a hint of sweetness as she got off the stage, some people handed her small bills as tips for good music. Jack was growing curious and he moved his way through, weaving passed those who were in the way, though he did drag a cold breeze with him, only to stop at the serving counter. A cashier was handing the girl a cup that had a sleeve around it, through the small hole it was steaming and he caught the hint of chocolate.

"Thanks for coming in today Raquel, it means a lot to us. After all, live music is very rare in cafes these days." The cashier spoke with a gentle smile on his lips as he looked at her and she nodded.

"It's no problem. I like what I do after all." Raquel spoke as she took the cup into her hands. "I'll be back at the usual time tomorrow boss." She picked up a bag and pulled it over her shoulder and waved before heading the direction of the door before the man could speak another word. Again Jack trailed behind.

~o~o~

Outside in the cold, Raquel pulled her scarf up to her cheeks a little, nuzzling a bit against the soft fleece as she took a small sip of the warm hot chocolate that was in the cup, letting her tongue roll over the taste of chocolate with just a hint of peppermint. She was sitting at a bus stop, staring as people walked on by and sighed, curling up a little as she sat alone…or so she thought. She sighed, closing her eyes, feeling a small bit of cold rub against her nose, leaning back to stare up at the covering of the bench. "I think Jack Frost just came and nipped me." She chuckled softly and then stopped when she heard a male chuckle.

"Actually, I nip those who I like, nice try though." He spoke hovering over her and Raquel's eyes shot open, crystal blue colored orbs wide as she stared at him. There was a pregnant pause and she jumped followed by a soft scream.

"Wh-Who are you supposed to be?" she questioned startled as she pointed at Jack shaking just a little.

"Me? Well you just called my name no longer than two seconds ago." He replied airily, smirking a little as he leaned on his staff. "You know it."

"Jack…Frost?" she paused and then she couldn't help but burst out into laughter. "You're kidding right? I mean sure I still believe he exists in spirit, but really he can't have just solidified in a human form right before my eyes." Raquel spoke as her laughter died away but looked at Jack.

"Well I hate to burst your bubble, but I am a spirit. How you can see me besides the kids is beyond me. You want proof?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Sure…why not? Go stand out in the middle of the road, see if a truck goes right through you." She was speaking sarcastically of course, but the snow spirit wasn't exactly having it.

"I'll do you one better." Was his response and he shifted his cane into hand walking around the side of the stop, waiting for a moment, watching a pedestrian come by he traced the crook of the cane across the snow covered concrete and a thin layer of ice began to flow and right under that person's feet and in that moment they had slipped and all the goodies they were carrying were scattered everywhere on the flattened snow. He turned and looked at Raquel, placing the staff against his shoulder, looking proud of himself at the state of shock on her face.

"How did…" she started and cleared her throat and lowered her voice for him to hear. "How did you do that?"

"Magic that has been gifted can be a powerful, yet fun thing." He spoke and swung himself over the back of the bench, taking a seat beside her.

"Okay, one more thing, say that I believe you're Jack Frost, how can I see you? You said kids normally can as long as they believe in you. Isn't that how it goes?"

"Well yes in a nutshell. But how you are able to see me is even stranger to myself. I'm used to children seeing me not adults. Besides how old are you anyways?"

"I'm 20." Raquel spoke a bit bitterly. "Don't like anything about it really." She sighed. "But growing up has to happen at some point I suppose. But seeing you is really the oddest thing that has ever happened in my life." Jack was silent as he listened to her talk, but then his gaze traveled a little to the night sky. Questions were reeling in his head. She was 20 years old, able to see him when most stopped believing at 15. How could she see him? How could she hear him? They were sitting there together having a normal conversation it seemed, but it still didn't answer the questions. However, he knew how to get his answers; Santa. "So…you're really Jack Frost?" her inquiry snapped him out of his daze.

"Huh? Well yeah, that was the name that was given to me. Still skeptical though?" he looked at her, his smirk playing back.

"A little, but maybe this is just my brain pulling off an illusion…I'm just tired." She spoke softly and sighed. "Maybe I'm just dreaming." She murmured softly behind her scarf. Jack was about to speak but was stopped when he saw the bright headlights of a metro transit bus coming to the stop. He gave her a light nudge as he got up. Raquel blinked and looked at him, sitting up straight. No words were exchanged as she saw the bus come, but she glanced at Jack again before the bus came to a complete stop and the door opened. She climbed in and paid her fee, glancing out the window she still saw him standing there, but in the front of her mind she thought she was simply just dreaming and went to go find her seat.

~o~o~

Jack on the other hand had taken into the air and called for the wind to take him to Santa's workshop and make it quick. For where he was going it took a fair bit by the way he was going and soon landed foot on an outstretched portion of the workshop, bare feet touching the wood softly. As quiet as he had been the doors burst open and the jolly white bearded man came out a grin on his face. "Jack, my boy, how were your rounds in North America?" he asked jovially.

"They were fine, but listen. Someone saw me. I'm not talking about a child either; I'm talking about a 20 year old young adult." Jack spoke, his tone turning into one of slight seriousness.

~o~o~

Angel Ayami's note: I'll be honest, I saw the movie just Thanksgiving and I will say it was the best movie I've seen and I loved it. I also hope you loved this first installment, I'm still contemplating on putting Pitch in this series or not, but you can leave an opinion if you'd like. Also, the song lyrics were not mine, they were 'Where are you Christmas' by Faith Hill. For now, kisses~!


	2. Chapter 2

Age Doesn't Stop Belief

By Angel Ayami

Chapter 2: To the North

The five were standing in a room by a large globe of the world with many glittering dots littering the continents in different places, the children who believed in them. They were the Guardians of the children; Santa Clause otherwise known as North, Toothania the Tooth Fairy, but she was more known as just Tooth, Bunnymund the Easter Bunny, Sandy the sandman, and of course there was the Guardian of winter Jack Frost himself who brought cold and snow wherever he went. After Jack had delivered his findings North had taken action and activated the northern lights to bring them all together. He could still remember the conversation so vividly since his arrival.

~o~o~

"Jack, my boy, how were your rounds in North America?" he asked jovially.

"They were fine, but listen. Someone saw me. I'm not talking about a child either; I'm talking about a 20 year old young adult." Jack spoke, his tone turning into one of slight seriousness. The next look on the older man's face it was crossed between shock and his own seriousness, without a word he took the winter spirit by the arm and pulled him into the warm confines of his home.

"Jack, this news you bring, you are telling the truth right? You aren't up to one of your pranks again are ya?" North spoke his thick accent very clear as he released the younger's arm looking down at him.

"I'm speaking the truth. You know all I've wanted since I became like this was to be seen. Being seen by Jamie was the first ever joy I had and slowly I've seen children and when they look at me. Those who are older always pass me by. We sat at a bus stop and spoke to each other." Jack replied as he moved across the wooden walkway with North. "It was in Seattle, Washington; my last stop of the night. Is it bad?"

"Bad? Of course it's not bad!" Oddly North's rather jolly response sort of shocked the spirit of winter as they made way to the globe. "In fact Jack, this is one of the rare cases in which we never had the opportunity of introducing you to."

"Wait, you're saying it's good that someone who should really have stopped believing in us a long time ago to see us?"

"Of course it's good. Believe it or not Jack," the man stood by a control console in front of the globe, one hand on each handle of a special activation, "one like this is a rather powerful source."

"You're going to be assembling the others here I take it?" Jack questioned as he leaned against his staff somewhat casually despite the situation at hand.

"Yes indeed!" North barked with laughter and that was when he activated the switches. Out from the top of the building on the outside, which Jack could see clearly in the opening where the moon could shine in the glow of greens, yellows…all colors of the spectrum floating and spreading across the lightening sky. The northern lights have been activated, meaning everyone would gather here in this one spot.

~o~o~

"This had better be good North for calling us up like this." Bunnymund spoke rather impatiently, running his paw over one of the boomerangs he had on hand. "Does it have to do with Pitch again? He sure didn't take long to come back and be a complete ass."

"No, Pitch has nothing to do with it." North replied gruffly and then he clapped a hand heavily on Jack's shoulder (poor guy's knees nearly buckled from the force). "On this hand Jack has made a rather important discovery during his rounds in North America."

"Huh?! Jack found something?!" Tooth explained happily and her wings gave a low hum from the excitement. From the corner of her eye she could see Sandy forming a simple question exclamation mark formation above his head. "What is it?"

"Yeah what has ol' Frostbite found?" Bunnymund was rather interested, but of course he still held a slight hint of bitterness with Jack (not as bad as before mind you).

"Well, what Jack did find was someone who could see him. This wasn't a child either, but a young adult. She was well past the age of children who no longer believe in us." He explained simply. There was a collective silence through the room even some of the Yetis and elves that were scurrying about came to a halt and the dim sound of a toy running faded away. Tooth however was the first to speak, though a little tentatively.

"You mean…Jack has found a Dreamer?"

"Rubbish!" Bunny snapped stamping a foot down hard. "Dreamers no longer exist in this time; they are just lil ankle biters with broken hearts. They turn into nothing but people who think that we are no longer important."

"Bunny…" North started, but was interrupted when Jack finally took hold of his opportunity to speak.

"What are these Dreamers?" it was the only question he could ask and gazed at Sandy who was attempting to communicate through a variation of symbols with his magic. "That doesn't really help Sandy, sorry." He couldn't help but feel amused as sprays of sand came out from the dream guardian's ears.

"Jack, Dreamers are people who are older, you know the idea the ones who are told that we don't exist by their parents," Tooth began to explain to him, "but there are extremely rare cases in this that an adult holds onto their beliefs in us, deep down in their heart. They still hold onto their inner child no matter how old they get."

"But since the early 2000's," Bunny spoke calmly yet bitterly, "Those rare cases have become nothing more than extinct. No person over the age of 15 ever had heart in us. These days, it's all about what their families will get them for the holidays."

"However, in this case I think young Jack could be onto something." North spoke reaching over and hitting a button, the globe suddenly halted to where they could see the united states and south America most clearly and with the press of a green switch a dim blue colored light appeared in the corner and was very scattered across the board of the world, in short there were very few among the yellow. "The blue represents the Dreamers of the world and as you can see there are not very many."

"This is her!" Jack spoke out as he floated over to the globe and rest a finger just near the corner of the US part. "This one right here, she was the one that saw me."

"Seattle?" Bunny scratched behind one of his ears. "Big cities like that are as rare as they come; typically it was always small town places."

"This is such big news!" Tooth spoke gleefully as her wings began to hum with excitement once again. "A Dreamer, a real live Dreamer!"

"Easy there Tooth." North chuckled, "We can't get too overexcited. The big question here is what we can do with this kind of news. Hm?" He looked down at Sandy, who once again began to create symbols in rapid succession, "Bring her here to the Pole? Surely you must have a few grains loose there Sandy."

Sandy scowled a little and shook his head creating a few more symbols just above his head, "I think he believes it's a good idea, the belief in someone who's older might give us a stronger boost." Jack spoke in rough translation; Sandy just shrugged which made the boy at least half right.

"Hmph, fine…we will give it a try. After all what could a 20 year old harm?" North spoke and motioned for a yeti who dispersed and returned quickly, carrying an old thick book covered in a thin layer of dust. "This is the old Naughty or Nice list, I keep them archived in case I ever need a look back. Now what was the woman's name." he asked Jack as he flipped through the old yellowed pages.

"I think her name was Raquel, short blonde hair cropped up to just below her hairline, she wore a pin with a sprig of holly on it and that's all I know of her." He spoke as he and the others watched as the white bearded guardian flipped through the pages until he stopped at the section with the R's.

"Let's see…Raquel…" he frowned a little as he moved a thick finger down the list and stopped. "A holly hairpin you said? Huh…I think I may know that girl. Ah-ha! Here she is; Raquel Jones! Now I remember, sweet as can be little girl, always asked for something for her parents rather than herself, I gave her that hairpin as a special gift for the generosity she had." North was glad as he shut the book with a loud thump and handed it back to a yeti who would take it back to the archive room. "I'm surprised she would be wearing that old thing for all these years."

"I suppose even humans can be surprising." Bunny responded to it as he tossed a boomerang into the air and catching it into his paw once more. "Say we do bring her the question is how and with who?"

"I was thinking Jack could be the one to do it, after all they saw each other and spoke. She has a bit more familiarity with him." Tooth spoke up with a bright smile on her face. "She'll be a little less frightened in a manner of speaking."

"As for how, well the easiest route without her freezing to death would be traveling by snow globes." North spoke as he pulled out one of the few he carried. "This one will lead right here, Jack will know what to do." He nodded wisely. "I have a good feeling about this."

"Well better Frostbite than me. I dislike portal travel." Bunny gave a simple shrug and Sandy could only give a thumbs up in approval.

"Jack, this is your own personal mission, think you can handle it?" Tooth asked excitedly as she was hovering close to him.

"Who me? Of course!" Jack gave her his trademark of a smirk and she blushed, even her little fairy friends were nearly swooning.

"Well Jack, this is yours then!" North spoke with a hint of laughter behind his voice as he tossed the glass orb at Jack who caught it in his hand and stuffed it away into his sweatshirt pocket to keep it safe. "You know how to work it, just make sure you're unseen."

"Got it." Jack waved a dismissive hand and stood on top of the once again swirling globe. "I'll be back in no time." With that said he took off into the air through the opening of the observatory like dome above and was out of sight. Bunnymund though was standing there, arms crossed, tapping one of his feet on the wooden floor.

"There's something bigger behind this…I can smell it." He muttered under his breath.

~o~o~

She was tossing and turning in a restless bout of sleep since 1 in the morning, unable to find a peaceful position to sleep in and sometimes waking up just a minute or two after she had fallen asleep. Raquel let out a soft whine like noise as she once again rolled onto her side, in her mind's eye visions of her as a child danced through her mind, mostly through adolescence when she would argue most constantly with her parents. They kept yelling back, calling her a 'fool', or at times often telling her to 'grow up', she was defiant however. She kept screaming this one thing repeatedly whenever they would try to talk even calmly about it; "He's real! I saw him!" is what she would always speak. But in her slightly more rational mind she would ask herself who she was talking about, who was real? Who did she see that had made her so defiant to keep such a tight grip on the childhood she cared so deeply?

At 3 in the morning she woke up again and gave a tired groan when she looked at the red numbers on her digital clock. With the attempt to go back to sleep rolled onto her back so it faced the alarm clock. At first it had been peaceful, cheerful even thick blankets of snow covering the ground, rows upon rows of trees that had beautiful ice crystals gleaming in the light of the sun, her love for winter. She would travel between the trees, following the laughter of someone who would feel close yet so far away…so much déjà vu. But then quick as the image of peace came the beautiful landscape melted away and turned into something darker, dead trees and soil, there was no sound of laughter for her to follow, all that could be heard was the sound of the crows cawing in the drear, it was…so lonely…she felt alone. Her body quaked with shivers as she tried to curl up into herself, eyes shut tight trying hard to rid herself of the image. Unbeknownst to her a dark shadow was watching as she slept restlessly, reaching out to feel for the negative energy all the more, but stopped when there was a loud pound on her window that made the young woman sit up straight suddenly and the shadow dispersed.

Raquel groaned and picked up her alarm clock and blinked, it was 6 in the morning and her cellphone was vibrating with a message. She picked it up and opened it as she climbed out of bed, walking to her bedroom window. "Huh, roads are closed? Guess that makes my plan to go out to do last minute shopping null and void." She laughed to herself as she looked at her window and stopped short when she saw a splatter of a snowball had been on her window. She opened it quickly and looked outside utterly annoyed, but she found no one in sight. "Damn younger kids...probably woke up at five to throw snow." She muttered under her breath and went to the joined bathroom to wash and warm up for the morning.

After her shower the young adult pulled on a black and white tank top and a purple hoodie over it and a simple pair of denim jeans over her lower half, nodding a little as she was drying up the last remnants of her hair. She paused though when she picked up her hair brush and looked down at the holly hairpin sitting just above the sink, it looked so real, frozen in time without wilting. At times she would think Santa put magic over it to keep it from doing so, but she dismissed that thought and brushed her hair out, picking up the pin and pinning her bangs back. She had been wearing it almost every day of the year since she first got it, since her bangs began to grow out longer than her actual hair, it was good use for the pin. Raquel was humming 'Hark Hear the Bells' to herself as she left her room to go to the kitchen. She lived in a college dorm for the time being, so the bedroom and kitchen weren't that far apart. The bonus? She lived alone so there wasn't much pushing and shoving. A cold chill made her stop dead in her tracks an in mid hum, the kitchen window was wide open and a bit of anxiety pooled into her stomach like a cube of ice. Had someone gotten into her house last night while she slept? No, the way she was sleeping she would have heard it. She walked over to the window and leaned over the sink to look out cautiously…there were no tracks leading to the window. Perhaps the breeze had pushed the window open, so she began to shut it, but what she saw in the darkened glass made her nearly scream. In the reflection was Jack Frost, standing right behind her in her kitchen, just lounging back in one of her chairs.

"Morning." He greeted casually as he looked at her. "Nice place you got here, bit small for my taste though." He stretched a little and yawned. "It took forever to find it."

"How…How did you get in here?!" she snapped feeling heat rise up in her cheeks and to the tips of her ears out of the combination of the warm skin and cold air.

"Simple, smashed a snowball to your window for distraction purposes and went to the kitchen window, which you should lock by the way." He chuckled as he stood up picking up the staff that leaned nearby and brought it over his shoulder. "You look well cleaned up considering the time of day it is. Roads are closed, can't make it to the café I take?" he asked raising an eyebrow, smiling with a mischievous look.

"Oh of course…you probably slicked the roads with ice so it makes the roads closed…this city freaks out enough when two snowflakes join together." Raquel sighed as she rubbed her forehead slightly. "Is there something you want?"

"Well that's the thing." He spoke to her resting his arms over his staff. "There is something I want to ask."

"And that is…?"

"Do you still believe in us? The ones that brought you and others joy as a child?" his question was simple, but it put Raquel into a corner as she picked at her nails, feeling suddenly hesitant.

"You're talking…like the Easter Bunny and Santa…right?" all she got was a nod and she sighed going on. "I admit," she began and swallowed the lump in her throat, "I could never let it go as a kid. My parents always told me you guys were imaginary, but…I still hold onto that shred of hope that they are out there."

"And that's why you wear the pin." He spoke pointing a finger to the hairpin that held her bangs back. "That gift there is the source of how you've been able to hang on for so long to your belief. And it's also why I'm here."

"Huh? You're here for what reason?" she asked rubbing a finger against her ear. "I think I had something crazy in my ear."

Jack sighed and rolled his eyes looking at her. "It's not for me to explain, but it does happen to deal with you seeing me and you probably can see everyone else. You need to come with me?"

"Oh? To where? Dare I ask…"

"The North Pole." The statement was simple but it hit Raquel like a ton of bricks to her stomach, knocking the wind out of her and she clung to the counter top.

"North…Pole…like…Santa's workshop North Pole?"

"Yes, the one in the same. I've been there very often, may not live there day by day but I do stay once in a while. You'll be surprised at the stuff that's there." He chuckled. "Believe me I tried breaking in there a few times."

"Okay…" she took a breath and looked at Jack with a serious look. "Say I do end up believing you, how can we get there? I have no magic, I can't exactly fly."

"With this, courtesy of Santa himself." He spoke drawing out the snow globe and tossed it in his hand and showing it to her. Raquel looked at it and looked into the small orb, there was snow swirling around a mountain that had glowing lights among the thick layers of the glittering powder. "This will take us right there and I promise you'll be safe."

"Wow, I…I don't know what to say…" she spoke softly then blinked when her kitchen phone rang. "Ah…excuse me." She muttered and Jack just nodded watching her pick up the phone. "Hello?" she asked and blinked looking at the phone. "Oh hi mom, how are you? How's dad?" she asked and Jack leaned on the wall listening to the conversation. Raquel nodded a little, "I'm doing fine, getting the house prepared for your…what?" she stopped and looked a little worried. "You can't make it down here for Christmas? I can come down there, it's no trouble." She spoke softly. "I mean it, how bad can a ticket cost? Christmas isn't Christmas without you guys…mhm." She nodded a little and listened to the other end. "Okay, I'll call you when I get there, promise. Okay. Bye." Then she hung up with a sigh, shoulders slumping a little.

"Christmas trouble?" Jack asked curiously as he watched her.

"It's nothing." She shook her head looking at Jack. "So, is there a catch if I come with you?"

"None that I know of, as far as I know they only want you for a few hours, day at most. So are you in?" he asked curiously hand in his sweatshirt pocket. Raquel went silent as she looked at him as her fingers rubbed on her sleeve.

"I'm in." she nodded and Jack couldn't help but give a small grin.

"Good, let's go out to the alley, gotta make sure no one's watching." He spoke walking past her to the window and opening it up and a cold breeze came in. "You may want to put on some warm comfortable shoes." He spoke and Raquel blinked running to the front door and pulled on her black fur lined shoes, jumping slightly on one foot before she came into the kitchen again, looking at Jack whose hand was held out to her. Blinking softly she took it, his hand felt cold as ice as he pulled her through the open window and it closed with a blow of the wind.

Together they walked out to the back alley where there were no windows or doors, just flat brick and concrete. Jack waited until they were in a nice open space and he pulled out the snow globe from his pocket and glanced at the blonde behind him. "You ready for this?" she nodded briefly in return and he tossed the snow globe to the wall and with a tinkling smash the glass broke apart but a mass of swirls appeared, flicking through the point of Seattle and flashed to the castle like building in the mountains. "Just take a breath and step in, I'll be behind you."

Raquel looked at it. "Eh heh….on second thought maybe this isn't such a good idea." She spoke looking back at him, but she felt the icy palm of Jack's hand on her shoulder, she could smell a soft hint of mint and the winter cold.

"You'll be okay, promise." And with that he pushed her right into the portal, despite her cry of protest and he followed right after her.

~o~o~

Okay the experience wasn't exactly a pleasant one, the swirling sickening motion and color around, but then right through the thin air she landed heavily on a wooden floor and Raquel couldn't help but groan softly and hold her head, feeling dizzy. Once her vision straightened out she stared when she saw two black boots in front of her and her gaze traveled upward and stopped to the white bearded man who was right there in front of her, fingers moving through the snow white hair of his beard, smiling. "Well I'll be, our guest of honor Dreamer has finally arrived and with good time, I thought it took a while of convincing." He laughed jovially despite the girl's confusion as Jack appeared right beside her up right.

~o~o~

Angel Ayami's Note: Ah that's it for chapter 2, I've been up since nearly seven-ish this morning typing it out. I hope it was worth the time. I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you all next time. Kisses~! Oh, and leave some suggestions if you'd like, I'm always open to them!


	3. Chapter 3

(A/N: I've been on a really big writing streak and I'm feeling good! This is the third chapter I'm writing just after posting the second one)

Age Doesn't Stop Belief

By Angel Ayami

Chapter 3: Workshop Exploration

Raquel sat up on her knees, the booming voice still ringing in her ears and she rubbed them wondering if she had heard right. What's a Dreamer? Moreover why was this man calling her such a thing? Was it something bad? She doubted it otherwise he wouldn't have been so happily exclaiming it. She felt a sudden wave of nausea and she groaned looking down, feeling a hand lightly touching her back. "Hey, you feeling alright there?" It was the voice of Jack Frost…the one who shoved her head long into this portal that had long since disappeared.

"Ah, she must be feeling a bit of what I call portal sickness. Happens once in a while, know it did for the elves when they first tried them." North laughed looking down at the two as Jack helped the slightly nauseated girl onto her feet. She sighed and gently pushed herself away from the youngest guardian muttering something about how she was fine. "Don't worry it'll pass, always does one way or another. So, Jack how was the negotiation?"

"Actually, it didn't take much to really convince her, she came rather willingly, considering the fact that all those roads were spontaneously covered in ice and made the roads closed and difficult for travel." Of course he feigned innocence as he placed his staff over his shoulders, but even if he tried to feign it longer he couldn't hide that smirk on his face.

"Yeah, spontaneous freezing…my ass…" Raquel muttered as she held her queasy stomach working to calm it down. "You did it on purpose…"

"Okay maybe I did do a little bit of working, but it's not like you had anywhere else to go." Was Jack's reply as he turned away, back to the mortal's flashing temper, still hiding that smirk on his face.

"I had something called a job!" she argued back and sighed rubbing her face a little. "Why am I here again…?"

"Oh, that! Yes, you were brought here for a very good reason Raquel." North chuckled, reaching down and patting the girl's head lightly. "You see…"

"Is she here?!" Tooth suddenly chimed as she flew in. "Wow, you're so grown up now, all your pretty adult teeth. Oh I remember when you lost your first baby tooth…" she rambled.

"Okay~." Raquel backed away a little. "I take it you're the Tooth Fairy." She spoke with a dry laugh.

"How'd you guess?"

"I think the fetish with the teeth is a dead giveaway."

"Tooth, I was just explaining to our guest why she was brought here. You can poke around with her teeth afterwards. After all she is going to be here for the day." North spoke up looking at the fairy who looked a little sheepish and fluttered to his side.

"Sorry North, I just got a bit excited. Besides don't we have to wait for Bunny to show back up?"

"No need to worry about that one mate. Came as soon as I heard North laughin'." The said Bunnymund spoke as he arrived with Sandy not too far behind.

"Good, good now that we're all here I think our guest deserves an understanding of why she is here." He spoke clapping his hands together.

"Yes, that would be extremely helpful, thank you." Raquel muttered rubbing her forehead, a bit annoyed, but she prepared for the information she was about to receive to let sink in.

"The reason why you're here is because you're a rare case of a human." North spoke to her as she looked up at him, eyebrow raised. "You are what we call here a Dreamer. Dreamers are young adults like you who still hold onto what they believe in, the things they were told as a child. Our existence being the key point as to the specific reason, you believe we exist despite the age you are at now when all are normally to forget about us. You have the essence of an inner child inside your heart, though you do not let it show very often, I have seen though of the things you do when you are alone and away from the public eye. You are also one of the brighter dots on our map than any other Dreamer across the board." He spoke and rest his hands on her shoulders turning her around to face the large metal model of the world that was covered with its yellow lights and the scatters of blue, but there in the corner of the United States where Washington was located was the brightest of the blue. Her eyes were wide as she stared; she was the only blue among the yellows.

"That's…me?" she spoke softly as she stared at the map.

"Eh, just a mere dot, but here you are a powerful Dreamer. Who knows you may even have a power locked away that Manny is waiting to open at the right time." North patted her shoulder lightly and forced her to turn back to the group.

"It's actually a real honor to have one here." Tooth spoke excitedly as she gazed at Raquel with a bright smile and her little fairies nodded and hummed with agreement. "You don't know how important this is."

"I don't really…" Raquel sighed as she slumped her shoulders a little, feeling the older man's grip come off. "I don't even know if I'm what you're looking for, like if you're looking for someone who can fight or use magic you have the wrong girl. I'm just a human."

"We know that, but you're special to us in your own way, because you still believe in us. You don't let your age define your beliefs that's what the special part is." The Tooth Fairy spoke gently as she flew over and lightly touched her cheek. The warmth made Raquel's body tingle a little, oddly she felt this sense of strong trust and love just radiate from the simple touch.

"Now that the explanation is over, which you have taken surprisingly well, I believe it's time for some introductions!" North bolstered with that jolly smile on his face. "As you see you've met Toothania the Tooth Fairy, just call her Tooth, short and sweet that way. You know me as Santa Clause in America, but here I'm simply called North. Over there would be Bunnymund, also known as the Easter Bunny…"

"Kangaroo." Coughed Jack which earned him a death glare from Bunnymund, it was threatening really.

"You watch yourself Frostbite, if I were you I would sleep with one eye open." He spoke in a thick Australian accent.

"Oh I'm so scared." Jack responded sarcastically. Raquel was about to speak but then Sandy came up to her and held out a small hand, she blinked and took the hand lightly and shook it, it felt like smooth grains of white sandy beaches to the touch.

"This is Sandy, the Sandman, good fellow, doesn't speak, but if you get to understanding his symbols communication will become easy. Lastly of course, you know our good friend Jack Frost."

"Only too well…" she muttered glancing at Jack.

"And we all know who you are Raquel Jones." He spoke patting her shoulder lightly. "Though well out of sight we each have had our own experiences with you one way or another, though you're older I think with prompting it's hard to forget about you." Raquel closed her eyes a little and took a deep breath as he spoke; she let her mind wander away. She could feel flashes of things that happened her past; the dollar being left under her pillow for losing her first tooth, the brightly colored blue and purple eggs she would collect during Easter, peaceful dreams as she slept, the hairpin left by North one year, and the snow days…the wonderful times when school was closed and the snowball fights she would get into with someone she could see but no one else did. Oh they were happy, and it felt even more valuable now since the figures were no longer part of her imagination they were real. She snapped out of it though when she felt a low grumble from her stomach and a hot flush crossed her cheeks.

"Looks like our Dreamer's a bit hungry, left without filling your stomach eh?" Bunnymund spoke chuckling softly under his breath.

"His fault." Raquel spoke simply jerking a thumb in Jack's direction, but before he could protest of her accusing him she went on. "But I don't think it would have helped if I was going to get nauseous upon exit, I'd rather have not lost it than lost it."

"Sandy, why don't you take her to where she can get something to eat, after all she can't go exploring with an empty stomach." North patted Raquel on the back when Sandy nodded making a motion to follow just above his head. She looked back then shrugged and followed the Sandman quietly.

"She took that whole situation surprisingly well." Jack spoke when the two were out of sight facing the other three that were still here at the moment. "To be honest she didn't really protest to much of anything when I told her where we were going."

"It must be that child at her heart, if you were someone like her who only imagined these things in dreams and for them to become a reality I think it was impossible for her to not agree to coming." Bunny picked at the end of a boomerang with the finger of his paw. "I'll be honest here, I smell trouble with this whole Dreamer situation."

"What are you talking about Bunny, why are you not happy like the rest of us? I know you're a grumpy rabbit, but you could be happy sometime." Tooth spoke rather surprised at the whole thing, wondering what trouble Bunnymund could find in this matter.

"It twists my tail mate. Not in a good way either." Came his reply, tapping his hind foot a little nervously against the floor.

"But we defeated Pitch months ago, I'm sure he's learned his lesson." Chuckled North, recalling the incident as the nightmares had drug Pitch away back to the hole he came from.

"It has nothing to do with Pitch, though he could be half of it. It could be a threat we don't know about. After all…where there are lights there are also darks."

"Loosen up Kangaroo." Jack spoke as he nudged his elbow against Bunny's arm, walking past him. "I'm sure the twist in your cotton tail is nothing more than just skittishness." With that the youngest Guardian walked down the walkway, out of sight.

"I know there's something odd about that sheila I can't put my paw on it, but I just smell trouble. Frost is just going to be thick-skulled about it until the trouble comes seeking out." Bunnymund was really stubborn about this, not willing to just let it drop like Jack did. To him, it was a feeling from the twitch of his nose to the twist in his fluffy tailed end, almost like how North got in his jolly round belly. North and Tooth just looked at each other, a little more believing of the Guardian of Hope instead of blowing it off like their youngest had.

~o~o~

The young adult was sitting at a large hardwood table in the spacious area that looked big enough to seat more than just an average person; it was the dining area just next to the kitchen of this large castle like building. Sandy sat across from her, just slightly floating right off one of the chairs, watching as the Dreamer was stirring the piping hot oatmeal in front of her looking a little bit in discomfort. Raquel had never liked the idea of oatmeal, to her it was just a pile of mushy grains that was supposed to be food no matter how many times her dad coaxed her to eat it, she would rather have cold cereal. However, with the temperatures outside and her stomach giving a low growl, wanting something she took a spoonful of the hot grains and put the spoon into her mouth.

The taste was amazing! Sure, the meal had that same texture, but there was a fair amount of brown sugar and apples that made such a bland meal taste delicious. Sandy was rather thrilled at the look of contentment on her face; he made a question mark over his head, wondering if she liked it. Raquel looked at him, "It's delicious, I would never eat this stuff as a kid." She muttered as she felt the warm food spread heat through her body starting from her stomach and moving on. She ate rather peacefully, looking at Sandy once in a while to see him forming different sand pictures over his head, it wasn't easy translating some of them because she wasn't fluent in well, she preferred to call it 'pictonese'. Halfway through finishing she looked as the golden sand that formed into the shape of a pencil writing on paper she frowned a little.

"Are you asking what I like to do as a hobby?" the closest thing she got to a nod and she thought about it, closing her eyes a little. "I do prefer listening to music most of the time. However, what I really like to do is sing. I took that kind of job at a café singing simple songs on the piano until the Snow Miser came and swept me away."

Sandy's response was a snowflake that she thought was supposed to represent Jack "Yeah, Jack." She nodded. "Jack Frost has different names just like Santa does, Snow Miser is one of them." She put another spoonful of oatmeal to her mouth and ate it, chewing the apple slices thoughtfully, pausing to see a musical note over the other's head, then what looked like the shape of an ear. "You…want to hear me sing?" he grew a bright smile and nodded in response. "I dunno, I never do it unless I am doing it at a piano…" she muttered, but looked to her other hand which was tapping a beat lightly of a song already in her head, she could see the pleading look in the sandman's eyes and sighed. "Okay, okay, just one." Raquel finally caved as she closed her eyes and let her fingers create the beat of a song that she loved dearly; from a movie she saw when she was younger.

_'I am a question to the world._

_ Not an answer to be heard._

_ Or a moment that's held in your arms_

_ And what do you think you'd ever say?_

_ I won't listen anyway._

_ You don't know me._

_ And I'll never be what you want_

_ Me to be.'_

The Guardian of Fun was walking down the hallway, freezing one of the skittering little elves that crossed his path every so often. Who did that cottontail think he was? Danger, please, the biggest threat was Pitch and look what happened to him. He stopped seeing two yetis and a small group of the cone shaped elves, bells jingling ever so slightly. Curious as he was he walked over and stood behind one of the furry yetis ignoring the annoying gibberish of an elf whose foot he stepped on, freezing it to shut him up, clearly in the quiet hall he could hear that voice sing, the one that brought him to her in the first place.

_ 'And I want a moment to be real._

_ Wanna touch things I don't feel._

_ Wanna hold on…and feel I belong._

_ And how can the world want me to change?_

_ They're the ones that stay the same._

_They don't know me._

_Cause I'm not here._

_And you see they things they never see._

_All you wanted I could be._

_Now you know me_

_And I'm not afraid._

_And I want to tell you who I am._

_Can you help me be man?_

_They can't break me_

_As long as they know who I am.'_

Jack frowned a little, why did things feelings come so familiarly to him? He understood this song probably wasn't one of her own writings, but it felt as if it were almost speaking of him, before he was believed in. It was curious, did she ever have those feelings too?

'_And how could the world want me to change?_

_They're the ones that stay the same._

_They can't see me_

_But I'm still here._

_They can't tell me who to be._

_Cause I'm not what they see._

_Yeah the world is still sleepin' while I keep dreaming for me._

_And their words are just whispers and lies I'll never believe_

_And I want a moment to be real_

_Wanna touch things I don't feel._

_Wanna hold on and feel I belong_

_And how could they want me to change?_

_They're the ones that stay the same._

_I'm the one now._

_Cause I'm still here._

_I'm the one_

_Cause I'm still here_

_I'm still here_

_I'm still here_

_I'm still here…'_

As her voice faded away there were high pitched sounding cries as some of the elves were shedding a few tears. The song felt sad, but she seemed okay by singing such one, even the yetis were a little emotional before they left to go finish some of their appointed tasks that they were shirking. Soon the elves left, waddling away, Raquel looked to the doorway when it was just Jack standing there and her face went bright red and she looked away, Sandy just waved to him. "You sing pretty good." Was the best the one of frost could utter as he walked over and sat against the table. "Where did you hear that one from?"

"It…it was just from a movie I watched when I was little." She became flustered and still looked away. "It was how I felt for the longest time when I was out in the world and wasn't with my parents. Social outcast you can say." She spoke rubbing the back of her neck. Sandy hovered over and lightly patted her hand with one of his extremely tiny ones and gave his way of a goodbye and departed to see North, leaving the two alone.

"That's sort of how I felt like, before I was believed in." Jack sighed as he stared at the ceiling, a bit carefree with his words. "Alone, not seen…for 300 years being nothing more than just an expression for a cold blast of wind that kisses against your nose."

"Jack…" the blonde started but he got off the table and turned looking at her, leaning on his staff, his rather cocky smirk back in play.

"Come on, I'll show you around the factory floor. You're done eating right?"

"I've eaten enough yeah." She nodded and got up from the table and walked over to him and they left together to go to the lower floor, ignoring the loud clatter as one or two stray elves were attempting to get a taste of what was left in the bowl as well as the frosty haired youth's sudden change in subject.

~o~o~

To be described in words wasn't enough for the scene on the factory floor, Yetis were working diligently on painting, building, and testing out the toys that were to be sent out to children around the world. The elves…well they were at least acting like they were helping (in their teeny tiny little brains), though most were trying to make themselves look like Christmas trees with the leftover lights. Raquel was in utter awe as she stared up above, watching as brightly colored flying models were tested by zooming through the air like neon streaks. "Wow, this is…it's hard to express, but it's amazing!" she exclaimed her eyes shining with a bit of joy.

"Now you know why I wanted to get in here so bad. I really tried breaking in here a fair amount of times. Unfortunately I couldn't get past the yetis." He shrugged as they were walking together looking at all the hectic work they were going through. Christmas was only 13 days away, they had to hustle to finish before Christmas Eve. "But now that I'm a Guardian I can have free roam of this place, finally able to get a good look at it." He paused seeing she had stopped looking at some of the works in progress, he couldn't help but have a soft smile, it was kind of cute really. It was a wonder how she hadn't hooked a guy yet at her age (he doesn't know if she has one or not). "You look like you like it here."

"Huh? Oh, I've always dreamed of one day being in here when I was a kid." She replied walking back over to Jack, folding her arms behind her. "To be honest, I imagined it smaller, busy of course, but more cozy. Still, this place is wonderful…" she spoke as she moved out of one of the walking rug's way since he was carrying a dollhouse and needed the space.

"You know, you're not all I thought you would be."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh you know, I imagined you to be all grown up and serious. Is this how you act when you think no one's watching?" he rose an eyebrow as he jumped onto the railing and walked along it, covering it in his fern like frost as he did, swinging around the beams.

"It's hard to keep a mask going sometimes. I have to act strong in the outside world or I'll get eaten alive. I can't act like a kid…can't squeal over the cute things." Raquel sighed as she glanced at him.

"Aw, isn't that cute? You're just a big softie at heart…Ah! Hey!" he yelped when he felt her hand push him off balance, but luckily his flying was effective from falling. "I was just kidding!"

"I know." She spoke as she looked back at him and smiled. "I was just fighting back."

"Oh so that's how you play is it?" he grinned, his fun side coming right out and Raquel blinked, knowing she was going to get it and broke into a run, avoiding the yetis and elf in her path, feet striking on the wood. "Come here! You can't run forever!" he called after her before taking flight to follow right behind her, leaving frost and cold in his wake.

Tooth was hovering just above, giggling softly at the two's acting. To be honest she had seen Jack playful, but having someone at his own age(ish) probably made him feel a little more active. She thought they were cute friends but twitched when she heard a loud crash and something indeed breaking followed by the outraged cries of a yeti in its gravelly nonsensical language. Sighing she shook her head smiling a little, in a way; kids would be kids. Blinking she felt a tug on one of the yellow feathers and looked down to one of the mini-fairies, one of Jack's little friends (no pun intended), Baby Tooth who was twittering about something. Looking back after hearing a rush of apologies before the two started off again in their chase, shaking her head again she looked back at Baby Tooth and was speaking with her about orders of where to pick up more lost teeth from the children in the darker continents.

Jack moved from between the beams of the stairs, there was no snow so there was no ammunition to slow Raquel down, but he was catching up quickly despite the crash they did not too long ago that gave the young adult a false start. He shifted his staff and smirked and hoved it across the floor and the fern like frost crossed the floor, catching under the blonde's foot and slipped. She could have fallen to the floor if Jack hadn't caught her around the waist and pushed her to the floor, sitting right on top of her back. "Well it looks like I win."

"You cheated!" she argued

"I didn't cheat, you just went up against the man who can produce frost. Besides it's not like we set any rules."

"Fine, fine, get off you're heavy!" she groaned feeling his icy weight on top of her lower back, looking back at him as he contemplated his decision.

"Hm…nah. I'd rather have you beg for mercy." He smirked and stayed where he was, though absentmindedly moved one of his hands down along her side, feeling the fabric of her sweatshirt under his fingertips, but stopped when he was just at her side and she let out a choked giggle. "Oh, what's this? Are you ticklish?"

"Wh-What? N-No of course not! Don't touch there!" she blushed but covered her mouth when she felt his fingers poking her sides lightly, but it was too late; her little weakness was out for the frosty haired youth to use against her.

"Not until you say 'uncle'." He smirked and he began to mercilessly tickle her side, laughing as she was trying so hard to burst into laughter.

"N-No…pl-please don't…" she whined but she began to giggle uncontrollably, "Ah…haha…ahaha…!" she tried to move away, but with Jack's weight on top of her, it made her immobile. The guardian began to continue his torture going ahead at it, laughing to himself, even as she slapped a hand on the wooden floor as she burst out in hysterics. "J-Jack…" she stammered but was stopped bursting into more giggles. "Uncle…!" she cried.

"Hm? What was that? I didn't hear you. I had some ice in my ear. Speak up."

"Uncle! I said uncle!" she cried as tears formed in the corners of her eyes. She was relieved when she felt the weight come off and she rolled over breathing heavily.

"There was that so hard?" he chuckled, sitting cross legged on the floor watching her.

"You really don't play fair…" she breathed glancing at him before she sat up wiping her eyes with a hand.

"I may not, but you know it wouldn't have been fun if I didn't." Jack shrugged as he stood up, taking her by the arm and helping her stand up.

"Okay, it was fun." She chuckled softly. "I bet being the spirit of winter, you can make a fantastic snowball fight."

"You have no idea, let's do one sometime." He spoke and nudged her lightly in the side and she smirked at her.

"You're on." She grinned back before walking on ahead of him. He chuckled softly and followed behind her.

~o~o~

It felt as if the day didn't last very long, the hours that passed exploring North's home was felt like minutes. The bright time of day had slipped into darkness. Snow was falling outside in the mountains. Raquel was standing out on a balcony resting her chin on her hand as she felt the bitter cold breeze rake through her hair like fingers of ice. She leaned on the rail, looking at the mountainsides as she began to hum a soft song to herself, piling some snow into hand and making it into a small ball, but the snow was so soft it crumpled under her fingers. She shivered a little and rubbed her arms a little to warm up, watching as the cotton ball sized puffs of snow were following. She was distracted that she didn't take sense of the dark presence moving its way along the snow covered rooftops, stopping just above the balcony. In its dark shroud a red tongue slithered out from its pointed teeth, licking its lips and large leathery wings sprouted forth from its back, "I smell a Dreamer. Master will be pleased." It spoke in a language that sounded dark before streaking down in a blur of dark and scrapped against Raquel, who looked back, narrowly avoiding it.

"Ah! What the hell?!" she looked over when she saw whatever that thing was fluttering in the air. It looked crossed between a human and a bat, small in size, but larger than Tooth's mini fairies. Its teeth were glistening and its deep red tongue came fourth, and in a clawed hand was a glint of metal in the shining moonlight. It was then she noticed that a slit was cut in her sweatshirt sleeve, missed the skin though.

"Dreamer with pretty voice." He muttered raspy, but was grinning evilly, crimson eyes glinting. "Master likes pretty voices. Dreamer will make master happy." With that spoken it shot down again, dagger shining ready for another strike.

"Oh sh-!" she moved away again, once again narrowly missing the quick strike.

"Hm, Dreamer quick…" it muttered then flew up again, leather wings caught in the moonlight, nothing more than a silhouette with the exception of its eyes. Then its mouth opened up, fang like teeth showing, but instead of words or flame, there was a loud hair raising, sonic like shriek came out, rattling the balcony and the windows cracked, shattering. Raquel winced, ears ringing loudly, collapsing a little against the floor of the balcony, eyes screwed shut. Even with her ears covered the noise was not muffled. Her body felt oddly weak as if the noise was draining on her strength.

She thought she could hear it end, but when she uncovered her ears there was nothing but a loud continuous ring, she couldn't hear anything, but as she looked her assailant shot back down in her direction while she was frozen in place. Out of the corner of her eye there was a streak of blue and biting cold made her shiver a little, but the force knocked the shadow away, freezing the dagger hand. Raquel could feel footfalls and looked over to the balcony doors, the Guardians had come.

"Get lost!" Jack's voice shouted, or as she could read his lips.

"Guardians here. Must leave, report to master. Dreamer with pretty voice here, Dreamer with the Guardians!" the shadow sang off key and flew off becoming nothing more than a black blur.

"Get after that thing Frostbite! Don't let it get away mate!" Bunnymund snapped, without a word back, Jack took off into the air to go after the dark creature. Raquel groaned, ears still ringing loudly and her mind started to blank from exhaustion, whatever that thing did had worked. Tooth fluttered over quickly and took hold of her, she vaguely heard the voices calling to her, but the ringing was too much and she was tired. The warmth she felt was welcoming and she passed out, all going black.

~o~o~

Angel Ayami's Note: Phew, it's done! I wanted there to be a plot development, but I was trying to come up with a villain idea so sorry about any lateness or if I made you wait too long. I came up with a threat. But who is it? What is it? You'll find out in the future~! For now I hope you enjoyed. Kisses~! Oh, song was "I'm Still Here" by the GooGoo Dolls, featured from Treasure Planet.


	4. Chapter 4

Age Doesn't Stop Belief

By Angel Ayami

Chapter 3: Clementines and Fun Times

She felt so warm as she burrowed safely under the thick blankets, curling a little into herself as the long chill soon went away. She could hear the faint sound of a fire crackling in a nearby fireplace, feeding warm air into the room, but she could also hear the noise of a window rattling in place perhaps a blizzard was going on outside. Turning over onto her side, she felt something shift and slide off her forehead to land on the floor with a soft, wet, plop that alerted her senses and made her come around from sleep. Raquel yawned softly as she rolled onto her back again, rubbing her forehead, it was wet and her long bangs were covering her left eye again. "Geez…what happened…?" she muttered looking at her surroundings. She was in a large, fairly clean bedroom, a fire was going merrily with its snaps and crackles, lighting up the room. She picked up the sound of a muffled tweeting noise and looked over the side of the bed to the wet towel that had slid off onto the floor, moving sluggishly. "Huh?" she reached over and pulled it away to show a rather wet, rather tweaked, Baby Tooth.

The mini-fairy flapped her small wings to dry them off before fluttering up into her face and letting out small noises in the concept of tweets and chirps, "Ah, I'm sorry." Raquel chuckled quietly. "I was half asleep I didn't know what I was doing." She spoke softly, setting herself up straight in the overstuffed bed. Baby Tooth, bless her soul, forgave her and ducked into the hood of her purple hoodie. "I'm not Jack you know." She pointed out as she moved to get out of bed, but she could hear voices from beyond the closed door. Quietly Raquel pulled herself off the bed and padded quietly to the door, leaning on it, pressing her ear close to the door.

"Bunny, has the assailant spoken yet?" She could barely hear Tooth's audible voice beyond the thick wood of the door. With a silent groan she pressed herself closer, straining harder to hear.

"Not yet mate. I can't seem to get more than a broken sentence out of the bloody bat." Spoke Bunnymund, making heavy footfalls as the Guardians were walking by.

"Not even explanation of why it brought an attack?" North brought up his inquiry thickly. Were they discussing about the thing that attacked her? Raquel looked down a little as she struggled to remember what it looked like, black…inhuman, big leathery wings, sharp teeth and red tongue clutching a knife with all means to kill or severely do harm. Baby Tooth fluttered up and chirped softly, but Raquel brought a finger to her lips in a hushing gesture, listening back in on the guardians.

"Luckily Jack was able to get a hold of it though before it got too far." The Tooth Fairy sighed with what sounded like relief. "If it had gone to report to whatever source it came from would have been dangerous."

"I told ya, there was something wrong with this whole Dreamer business the moment Frost found her."

"Bunny, you can't blame Jack or Raquel on this. Neither of them is at fault." North sighed as they paused close to the door, perhaps to go downstairs away from here.

"I'm not sayin I blame them. It's not like they didn't have knowledge of it, neither did we. Though I told you I had a feeling and look what turned up." Bunny spoke up to make sure there was no misunderstanding.

"So…what do you think we should do?" Tooth asked softly, her voice filled with concern.

"Well we have one of two choices; send her back home or keep her here." Came the rabbit's short reply. Raquel looked down again this time to her feet. Had she caused that much of an upset that they might have to send her back home?

"We discuss this at different time, yes? For now we let them rest." The older man spoke kindly and there was a light mutter of agreement as the guardians left down the stairs. Breathing out a soft sigh the blonde looked at Baby Tooth, seeing the concerned look in her small eyes; she gave her a halfhearted smile and rubbed the top of her head with the pad of her index finger.

"I'll be fine." She muttered softly. She reached down to the doorknob by all means to get out and stretch her legs, but the knob jostled and the door swung open and smacked her headlong on the forehead none too gently. "Ah! Son of a BITCH!" she cried holding her bruised forehead.

"Well you certainly have a colorful vocabulary." It turned out to be Jack, he looked around the corner of the open door, he had a small healing cut just against his right cheek, proof he really had gone after that thing earlier. Though the smile on his face was teasing, it also looked sheepish, "Sorry."

"It's fine." She sighed getting herself off the floor watching as Jack came in, shutting the door behind him quietly as if he didn't want to let the others know where he was at.

"You were eavesdropping too huh?" His question came as he tugged at the collar of his blue frosted hoodie, the heat felt stifling. "It's hot in here…"

"Oh, there's a fire going…hold on." She spoke as she walked over to a nightstand, picking up a bowl of cool water before walking to the fireplace and pouring a little bit of the liquid onto it, making it hiss, but she put just enough to dim it and not plunge the room into total darkness.

"Thanks, you never answered my question though. Were you eavesdropping too?" Jack asked the same question as he took a spot on the bed as Raquel opened a window and joined beside him.

"A little, I guess curiosity got the best of me." She sighed as she curled her knees to her chest, resting her chin on top, absentmindedly watching the snow filter in to cool down the warm room. "Are you alright though?" she asked as she reached over and traced a finger against the line of the cut, but he tilted his head away.

"It's nothing to worry about, just a cut. That thing was pretty quick." He spoke softly reaching up and rubbing the spot with the back of his hand, frowning. "I was able to get to it though. How are you feeling anyways?"

"Me? Oh…I'm okay…I feel fully rested. Sorry if I was such a bother." She chuckled guiltily and rubbed the back of her neck, looking away, bangs in her face. There was a long moment of quiet silence between them until she jumped at the touch of cool finger tips brushing her pain in the backside bangs behind an ear, pushing the holly hairpin in to keep them there.

"You look nicer without your bangs covering your eye." He smiled a little as he leaned back a little on the bed. That smile melted away into a frown though. "What has me lost is why you were the one it wanted…normally if there's a threat it's against us as the guardians." Absently his fingers clutched his staff a little bit tightly. "I wonder if this was all Pitch's doing…"

"Jack…" she reached over a little and gently touched his shoulder, thumb rubbing just below one of his shoulder blades, "I don't really know what's going on myself. Believe me if I did, I would have let you know." She sighed and looked down, not liking this oddly silent winter spirit beside her. "I've caused all of you enough trouble, perhaps it's best if I did go home."

As she was about to remove her hand she blinked in shock when the youth reached back and gripped her hand in his, still looking away. "Trouble is something you aren't. It's our job as guardians to protect the children of the world." His grip seemed to tighten a little; perhaps he was just frustrated that she had gotten hurt? "I have made a vow to protect them, but now there's a threat against you. Just like everyone else I will take charge to defend you…all of us will. It's what we do."

"But I'm not a child anymore…these rules of yours don't apply to me."

"Screw the rules. I know you're not at the age of a child anymore, but you still believe in us…believe in me…you can see us." He turned his face and looked into hers, his deep polished sapphire blue eyes boring into her crystalline ones. "A threat has arisen against you; a Dreamer, a child at heart, if the others don't agree I will protect you."

Raquel had fallen into silence at his words; words of loyalty which she had never heard from anyone before, he could feel that reassuring grip he had on her hand it made her believe that he meant it. "Thank you…that…it means a lot to me…" she sighed softly resting her head against his shoulder a little. "I've always been the one to hold myself together, not wanting anyone to support me or lend me a hand, lend me the words of trust you've given me. I have never needed to depend on anyone since I started college, but I think it's more like I didn't want to depend on anyone…just take care of myself. All of my problems." She shivered a little when she felt the grip on her hand leave and reach into her blonde tresses, petting them lightly.

"You don't have to work through them alone. You have me, if I'm worth anything at all." He chuckled softly and she looked up at him.

"You're a good friend Jack, that's all I ever wanted." She murmured then she pulled back, settling herself back down to sitting contently beside him.

"Well that's a relief, but you're cool as a friend too. Believe it or not, I don't have many, the guardians and Baby Tooth are some things, but I never had many human friends since I got chosen to become Jack Frost…I do have two though; Jamie and his little sister Sophie. Though Sophie takes more of a liking to Kangaroo than me." He chuckled softly and glanced at her. "This though is the first time I met someone around my age, sort of. It's a good feeling." He seemed to become just a bit brighter when he heard her laugh softly, nodding in agreement.

"Oh yeah, nearly forgot. They're a little cold, but…" he muttered digging into the pocket of his hoodie and removing two small fruits that looked like oranges, but they held more of an oval shape. "Thought you could use a snack when you were up and going."

"Thank you." She spoke as she took one. "I don't mind them cold." She murmured softly, taking a small sniff of the rind closing her eyes. "Clementines…one of my favorite winter season snacks…" she murmured.

"Huh? That's what they're called? I thought they were just tiny oranges." Jack replied as he tossed the extra one up and down in his hand. "What's so special about them?" he asked and blinked watching her as she was taking off the peel with ease, humming softly. "How are you doing that?"

"Peels on these suckers are thin. The reason why I like them is because they're sweet and less sticky than an orange and they're tons easier to peel. It's also easy on little kids." She chuckled softly. "I need to pick up a crate of these when I get home, I remember when I would get so excited to have these around the house I would snack on two or four of them in a day." With gentle hands after removing the peel, she pulled it in half and removed the stringy core, removing one of the slices and handed it to him. "Here, try it."

"Hm…" he took the little kidney shaped orange piece and placed it in his mouth. "Huh, that's not bad actually."

"Here, trade you." Raquel giggled softly as she took the unpeeled clementine from his hand and switched it with the one she took apart already, working on removing the rind, watching from the corner of her eye as the winter spirit slowly ate away at the slices. Together they sat, eating once in a while on the fruit and exchanging interesting stories, most had to do with funny experiences they had, and Baby Tooth though was snuggling back in Jack's hood, watching them contently.

~o~o~

Four guardians (minus Sandy) and a Dreamer were in the room with the globe room, saying their goodbyes for now. They had come into the guest room Raquel had been resting in and thinking it was best she went home to rest up while they were going to work out what this sudden threat was about. "It was so nice of you to come see us; it was really nice to meet you." Toothiana spoke happily as she gently pet Raquel's head.

"We'll come by and visit you on Christmas, yes?" North spoke happily, it was as if the incident on the balcony hadn't happened, but there was still some tension. "Maybe bring you here instead? It would be a nice celebration!"

"Heh, I guess that wouldn't be too bad." Raquel chuckled softly.

"In spite of things, I'll admit it was nice havin' you around shela. You really kept Frost in his place." Bunny smirked at the glare Jack had tossed his way. "Guess this means we won't be strangers around you eh?"

"Oh, speaking of strangers, don't be one!" chimed Tooth. "You can always ask Jack to bring you around again anytime. At least until winter's up. Then you can look for Bunny instead." She chuckled. Raquel smiled a little and shook her head a little, looking over and exchanging glances with Jack, who was standing close by with a hand in his pocket (fingering something but she dismissed on what it was) and staff over his shoulder.

"Well, if that's all, we'll head out." He spoke, sliding his hand out from his pocket and placing an arm around Raquel's waist.

"You take good care getting her home Jack." North spoke with a dead calm, which was more in warning.

"Don't worry about it." Jack waved it off and pulled the blonde close, leaning in and whispering two words; hold on.

"Huh? Why? Ah!" she latched her arms around the back of Jack's neck when she looked down and saw they were a few feet off the ground. The frosty haired youth couldn't help but chuckle as he began to take off with her. Raquel raised a hand a little, waving a farewell to the others, smiling when they too raised a hand in goodbye, chuckling as Tooth cried out something about her being watchful of her dental hygiene before clinging tightly onto Jack seeing how high they really were.

Raquel wasn't a stranger to flying; she had flown in planes to visit her parents on her breaks, but that was when there was a secure frame of metal around her. This experience on the other hand was rather frightening, holding tight to the solid body that had an arm around her in a promise he wouldn't let go, but Jack was not without his mischief taking sudden dips and dives and giving her a spook, still she had fun in some way. They were silent until Jack stopped over the city of Seattle staring at the golden cloud of sand where steady streams of golden grains were coming from. "Looks like we got here in time to see Sandy work his magic." He grinned and moved down to the telephone lines, his feet layering them in frost so they were stiff, setting Raquel on her feet but still keeping hold of her.

"Wow…it's beautiful. You know I always saw something like this in my dreams, but they were always so vivid I would forget about them the moment I woke up." She spoke and looked up as the area around them lit up with a river of sand, curiously she reached up and felt them blushing softly, jerking her hand away as some of the sand swirled around her and formations of butterflies with dainty wings of different designs fluttered around her. Jack looked upon her with soft eyes, there was something about her that made him feel warm inside, almost human.

"When I did that I got dolphins. It was pretty wicked." He chuckled. "But I think that suits you, shows how cute you are on the inside. I was thinking you would have something like teddy bears." He smirked as he teased, watching her eyebrow twitch, wincing when he felt a hand smack him upside the head in retort.

They raised hands saying hello to Sandy, who waved back as he worked on giving children good dreams before Jack took Raquel back to her college apartment, the window opening in a gust of wind letting them both slip into the bedroom. "Thanks for bringing me home Jack. That was much better than magic portal travel." She spoke as she kicked off her boots and pulled at her sweatshirt, sighing as she took it off and only to be in the black and white striped tank top. "Scary as it was at first, I never had such an amazing rush before."

"You're welcome." He laughed giving a gentlemanly like bow. "I aim to please." He looked outside for a moment and walked over to Raquel as she sat on the bed, she was smiling probably happy to be back in her own bed. "Listen, before I take my leave there's something I have to give you and you have to swear you won't tell Santa about this. I'm on the Naughty list anyways, so it may not matter."

"Huh? Sure, what is it?" Raquel inquired as she sat up straight on the bed, sensing the direness in his voice. He walked over and stood in front of her, resting his staff in the crook of his elbow, making her hold her hands out. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out two snow globes, similar to the one he used earlier that day, resting them in the palms of her hands and shutting them closed around the crystal orbs, but still had a grip on her hands.

"These are yours in case of an emergency. I took them from North when he wasn't looking, I know it's wrong but I'm just looking out for you. If anything happens again like with that thing at the pole, don't hesitate to use one especially if I'm not here."

"Are you sure you're not doing this because I'm a valuable Dreamer?" she asked quietly raising an eyebrow.

"It's not because of that, it's because you're my friend. That's what we are right?"

"Yeah, of course we are Jack."

Jack looked relieved as he loosened his grip from her hands, feeling the warmth of them creep away slowly. "You should probably get some rest. You had a rather long day." Raquel gave him a nod as she hid the globes away in her nightstand drawer, looking at Jack as he was turning to leave.

"Wait, can I ask a favor?"

"Sure, shoot." He nodded looking back at her.

"Can you come here tomorrow? If you're not busy, we can hang out." She spoke a hot blush crossing her cheeks, but she caught that grin on his face and she couldn't help but smile.

"Sure, I'll handle my rounds and we'll hang out." He agreed full heartedly climbing onto the windowsill, looking back at her and waved. "Sleep well."

"Bye Jack." She waved a little and with that the window shut at Jack's departure, a coating of fern patterned frost covering it and she sighed without changing out of her jeans crawled under the covers of her bed, closing her eyes a little she kept one open just enough to see his silhouette disappear and she smiled a little to herself, falling asleep slowly.

~o~o~

_It was a long road ahead, a dirt road ahead lined by a grove of snow crystal covered trees, the air crossed between a moist cold and slightly warm air. Snow was blanketing all around Raquel looked around the area, there was an sense of serenity about this place she took a deep breath, enjoying the peace until a laugh entered through her ears and she saw the shadow of someone so familiar to her, she couldn't help but chuckle softly, "Jack." She murmured softly as she followed after that laughing voice, telling her to keep up. However, she could never keep up with him nor did he wait up, the longer she went running the longer the road seemed to be, but suddenly the laughter died away and the peaceful landscape was melting away to the scene of grey drear as it had before, the frosty trees were replaced by dead looking ones, the snow covered ground melted away into dead and cracked soil, instead of laughter there was silence except for the call of a crow, a chilling foreboding breeze made Raquel shiver and hug herself a little. "Jack? Jack!" her voice called to the winter spirit, but she got no response and fear gripped at her as well as an overwhelming feel of loneliness._

_ "Oh, poor girl…" a voice murmured close to her ear, "is this something you fear?" his voice sent chills down her spine and hands long and slender touched her shoulders lightly. "To be abandoned and alone…" it hissed in her ear._

_**Some nights I stay up**_

_**Cashing in my bad luck**_

_**Some nights I call it a draw**_

Raquel bolted upright, her blonde hair a tangled static mess, cold sweat dripping down the back of her neck and she turned to her alarm clock which had her iPod resting in it, she had set it to play her music on shuffle as an alarm. Panting softly she reached over and clicked it off, holding her forehead a little. "Again…?" she murmured. "I can't believe that dream keeps coming back…but I never heard anyone speak to me before, nor do I remember speaking." She sighed and rubbed her eyes before looking to the clock which said 7:00 a.m. in big red letters. Groaning she got off her bed, walking over to her window and opening it a little to look outside, seeing it was snowing outside despite the sunlight just rising. She welcomed the cold chill but looked down to the ground before looking up, just remembering what she was going to be doing today. "Oh yeah!" she shut her window and rushed to the shower to get herself woken up and refreshed since she was supposed to be hanging out with Jack today.

Taking her time in a hot shower to wake up, she turned off the water and wrapped a towel around her body, walking to her room and poking around with her iPod device and playing "Angel to You (Devil to Me)" by The Click Five humming softly as she listened to the rock beat while she dried off and shifted through her clothes to find something to wear. She pulled out a purple colored turtleneck and brought it over herself not minding the dampness of her hair wetting the collar, taking out her lilac fading into pale blue gradient jacket that was lined with faux fur to keep her warm as well as a simple pair of jeans. As her music was playing on shuffle, echoing through the room she went to get a bite to eat for breakfast.

There was a knock on her living room window at 10:15 according to her clock in the kitchen (which meant she entertained herself for a few extra hours) and she got up from the couch, turning her Kindle Fire off before walking to the door and opening it. "Hey Ja-" before she could finish she was hit with a face full of snow.

"Hey, good morning!" came Jack's laughing voice as she wiped off the snow, blinking a little when she felt like she got something in her eye, but she was overwhelmed by a sense of fun filling her system. "You ready for a bit of fun?"

"Oh Jack Frost…you're so going to get it!" she called after him as she pulled on her boots, gloves and jacket, picking up a sting of ice skates and put them over her shoulder before running out the door, scraping up some snow into her hand as she left the porch, packing it into a ball before flinging it at the spirit who avoided it, grinning.

"Ha! You're going to have to catch up with me first!" he called and took off at full speed and Raquel couldn't help but give chase as she felt adrenaline pumping through her system. Dodging around people and streets as snowballs were flung into the air both aiming for each other, which created ducking behind trees and bins in order to not get hit by the frosty ammunition.

Raquel was crouching behind a solid oak tree, packing up some snow into her hand, glancing around the trunk, seeing how Jack had lost sight of her she grinned a little to herself, wheeling her arm back and with a hard throw aimed right for his back-hitting him right on target! "Yes!" she cheered to herself as she came out of her hiding spot.

Jack couldn't help but look back and chuckle softly before feigning that he fell from the air landing into a soft pile of snow. "No! I'm hit! It's the end of Jack Frost." He spoke dramatically as Raquel walked over, quirking an eyebrow as she looked down at him and chuckled shaking her head. He looked at her with large sapphire eyes in a fake pleading notion, "Don't let Bunny have my staff when I'm gone." Though he couldn't help a small bit of laughter in his voice, but with those "last words" Jack faked his death.

"Are you done?" Raquel chuckled. "You're such a drama king."

"Oh come on, that didn't pull at your heartstrings?"

"Nope, not even a little."

"You're so cold!"

"Yeah, yeah…says the one who can create ice and snow wherever he goes." She chuckled and helped him out of the snow pile, but he ended up pulling her down beside him.

"So if I really were to die you would be this cold as you are now?" he asked in a hypothetic way.

"Well…if you want the truth, not really. I would be a little upset with you being gone."

"Ah-ha! You do care!" he crowed and began to laugh, only to get himself snow dumped on him, not that it mattered since he couldn't feel the chill.

"Come on, let's go to the lake, there's been something I've been wanting to do since you agreed to coming back last night." Raquel told him as she sat up and he did as well, backs covered in snow.

"Yeah? What have you wanted to do?"

"Ice skating." She grinned a little looking in his direction.

~o~o~

The walk to the lake wasn't a long one, turned out it wasn't very far from their snowball fight grounds. On the frozen lake there were many kids being observed by their parents to make sure they were safe as they were learning the ropes on ice skating, but they were having fun none the less. "So you know how to do this?" Jack asked as he stood beside Raquel while she was taking off her boots and putting on the skates.

"I've done this a while back when I was younger, but it's just the same as rollerblading, just on ice and sharper blades." She spoke as she tied them up and looked at him. "What about you?"

"I did a while back, while I was alive, same way on those blades, but now that I'm a spirit I just go with my own bare feet, it's a lot of fun." He chuckled, watching as kids were skating on the ice. "So you're sure the ice is thick enough?"

"Yeah sometimes this lake can get up to two inches thick with ice depending on how cold it is. I do this once in a winter." She spoke softly. "Besides since when would you be worried?"

"Guardian, duh." He rolled his eyes. "I'm looking out for the kids after all."

"Ah right." She spoke standing up carefully, running a blade against the frozen lake a little bit to test out the sturdiness. "Perfect." She nodded before moving herself, one foot in front of the other, gliding carefully to avoid the children, soon Jack joined her side chuckling.

"You look a little nervous, you sure you can do this?"

"I'm perfectly fine."

"Heh, come on." He grabbed hold of her hand. "It's really easy once you get back used to it." Then he pulled her along, his bare feet sliding along the ice carefully, leading her until the cobwebs were cleared out from her past.

"That's it." He spoke to her as his hands still held her gloved ones as they skated. "You are regaining quick aren't you? Want me to let go?"

"No, this feels nice. I haven't skated with someone in a long time." She smiled shaking her head. With a shrug Jack just held her hand gently as they moved together in sync at a casual pace. However, between the subtle things of enjoying the day of skating, some kids had to get off because it was time to go get something for lunch, a dark shadow was lurking in the branches of a tree.

"Dreamer I see." It hissed and chortled softly. "Enjoying self with guardian. It would be bad if something were to happen to Dreamer." It chortled again before diving down and landing on the ice, there was a resounding crack and thin white webbed lines began to form on the ice. Soon the frozen water began to split, revealing the dark liquid underneath. Raquel and Jack stopped and looked back as the cracks began to form and the winter spirit froze up, stiffening.

_"Jack!"_ a small voice called in the back of his mind, a terrified little girl. _"Jackson, I'm scared."_

"Jack? Jack!" Raquel waved a hand in front of his face, wondering why the bringer of snow and ice suddenly froze up like that. She heard someone crying, the sound of a little boy who was frozen in place as the ice broke apart. She looked around, normally she knew Jack would have sprung into action but right now he was pretty much frozen himself.

_"Jackson!"_ the voice resounded in the depths of this memories, but he blinked when he felt the movement beside him, Raquel had moved, skating along the edge of the lake as the ice began to break away heading for the stranded child. "Wait!" his voice came out tight, watching the breaking of the ice become worse under her weight.

The breaking ice creaked and groaned, shattering everywhere she moved, but as she reached the child a large split was carved between the land and the young adult holding onto the little boy who was clinging tight and whimpering listening absently to the cries of a frightened mother. Breathing deep she skated along the break until a large split formed and she closed her eyes, holding the kid tightly before she took a leap over the dark water, her shoulder hitting harsh against the rest of the ice and skidding until there was a shower of snow as she landed in a snow drift. "Nn…" she sat up as the terrified mother came over and picked up her child, kissing the side of his head gently giving her a rushed thank you as Jack Frost came over, standing beside her.

"Are you okay?" he spoke, his voice was tight still, had he been afraid? "I'm so sorry I froze up like that. I don't know what came over me."

"Don't worry about it Jack…it's not your fault." She smiled and he gave her a halfhearted one in return.

"You know, you're pretty good. You sure you're not a Guardian?" he chuckled quietly and she laughed a little too.

~o~o~

"Oh what cute sentiment, it makes me sick. Though it seems that my lovely minion's plan failed, hm…well no matter…" A dark voice muttered as a pale hand was resting against a hollow cheek, looking at the swirl of crimson and black magic as if he were seeing through a looking glass. "The Dreamer will be mine in due time, for now I think it is best I grace them with a moment's peace, but understand little Dreamer, your precious Guardian friend won't be around to save you when I make my entrance." He chuckled darkly before it became a laugh and he waved away the magic that let him see to the mortal world, smearing the image away in scatters of dark colors.

~o~o~

Angel Ayami's Note: Ah, I'm sorry if this is a little rushed, I may do some rewriting if it's too bad, I just wanted to get this finished up before school. Yes, this did have a bit more of time between Raquel and Jack, but don't worry the others will have more screen time soon enough. For now, I hope you enjoyed kisses~! Oh, leave a review if you'd like, but no flames please.


	5. Chapter 5

Age Doesn't Stop Belief

By: Angel Ayami

Chapter 5: Speak to Me of Dreams Reoccurring

Raquel and Jack were sitting across each other from the girl's small kitchen table, a cup of hot chocolate sitting in her hand as her fingernails lightly tapped along the ceramic cup. They had come back to the apartment after the incident at the lake after Jack was kind enough to freeze it back over for the children to proceed in their playing. The way back had been quiet between them and it had still been since she got the warm beverage to now, besides the clicking of her nails on the cup the only thing that had been making noise was the clock above them with the relentless 'tick-tock'.

Tick…

Tock…

Tick….

Tock….

The blonde couldn't take the silence much longer, but as she opened her mouth the winter spirit had held up a hand to stop her. "Look, I know what you're going to ask. Why did I freeze up like that, right?" he spoke, though he really sounded like he wasn't in the greatest mood to truly speak. He sighed and leaned back in the chair, tilting it back, sinking a little lower onto it. "To be honest I don't know what happened, I just…heard an old memory play through my head and things just…I got scared. I don't know why. I shouldn't even be afraid; I'm a Guardian for Mother Nature's sake!"

"…Look, Jack…I'm not a psychiatrist or anything, but I think that your trauma just stopped you from acting. Maybe seeing that little kid trapped on the ice triggered something." Raquel spoke quietly and took a small sip of hot chocolate, nibbling on a marshmallow that floated past her lips.

"Yeah," Jack replied stiffly looking up at the ceiling, "that's right. Hit the nail right on the head didn't you?" Once again his tone wasn't the most happy and it was bordering on anger. Raquel looked down, her crystal blue orbs settled at the brown liquid and white floating marshmallows on the surface of her drink. Jack looked at her and sighed softly settling himself up straight and looking at her, reaching out and lightly brushed a few strands of her hair out of her face. "Look, I'm sorry. What happened today isn't making me feel at ease. I feel like I could have failed because I stood there like an idiot. I really am thankful you were there and here right now, you're not putting me under any pressure to speak…so…sorry." He sighed looking down and brought his hand up to brush at his bangs in a slightly aggravated way.

"It's okay." Raquel spoke and looked up at him. "I understand you're upset, but don't kick at yourself for it, after all what happened at the pond could have been just a simple accident. That assumption just made the frosty haired male snort, hell he almost looked a bit amused.

"Either an accident or a set up." He spoke with a roll of his eyes. "Think about it Raquel, something came after you at the North Pole, whatever it was, was out for you and for blood. Whatever force out there is there, it wants you and badly either alive and unharmed or injured and unable to fight back."

"I know, I know!" Raquel sighed rubbing her forehead a little; the incident hadn't been long ago and was still fresh in her mind. Yes, Jack was right. There was something or someone out there either in the spiritual world or not that was out for HER, for whatever reason it was unknown to her and it bothered her pretty well. "I know that there's something out there after me. Hell I know it's after my head most likely, but that doesn't mean it followed me all the way out past the boundaries of the pole, there's no way."

"Dark magic is out there Raquel, it can do crazy things and it can become unstoppable unless we figure out what it is and who's causing it." He sighed softly then looked up at her, his deeper blue eyes looking at her reproachfully, "Listen to us, all tense around each other when we had been having fun not too long ago…" he smiled a little bit to himself, "It doesn't suit us does it?"

"No…" Raquel blinked a little and chuckled softly and smiled a little. "Not one bit. Believe me I know you're right. I guess, I'm a bit nervous too, I never really had enemies before…but right not I can't tell if I'm more nervous or exhilarated."

"Exhilarated? Don't be stupid." Jack was laughing a little bit too; at least the mood was lightening up. He shifted a little bit then looked at her and rests his cheek in his hand reaching over with his other and tapping the lip of Raquel's mug and the hot chocolate had chilled and froze over a little. "I'm guessing you want to know what happened, right?" he asked raising an eyebrow. "You know, for what made me freeze up like that."

"Only if you're ready Jack, there's no real pressure." The young adult nodded then frowned looking at her cup then looked up at Jack with a tiny scowl on her face, but it cheered him up a little bit.

"I'm willing to share now." He sighed and looked into space a little. "It was the moment of when I died…and became Jack Frost. My original name had been Jackson Overland; I lived a long time back, during the colonial era. I had a little sister and she meant the world to me, though all I really seemed to care about was having fun." He closed his eyes as he started to go deeper into thought, into the memory that he had forgotten until just before the climactic battle with Pitch Black. "We went ice skating one day, at first I thought the ice was thick enough to hold us both, but then the ice cracked under her feet. I kept hearing her call out to me, I had to do something to calm her down and stop her from feeling so scared, so we had a little bit of fun, through a game of hopscotch. On the third step I had grabbed a stick and grabbed her and I ended up switching places with her due to the amount of force I put into the throw." He muttered and looked down quietly. "Before I knew it, the ice cracked out from under me and I took the plunge…I vaguely remember hearing her call for me before everything went completely dark. I was glad though that she was safe." He opened eyes and he saw Raquel's concerned look and took a breath. "The moment she was trapped there on the ice had been the most terrifying thing I had experienced in my old life; it probably came back to me today. It's why I froze up…because I heard her voice calling out to me."

"I see." She nodded a little bit. "I guess that's a reasonable explanation, it was probably hard on you to have that happen to you."

"Yeah…" he sighed and stretched up a little. "Sitting in this chair for so long is making me really stiff, is there anything fun we can do?"

"Why don't we watch some Christmas movies." She shrugged. "To celebrate the holidays you know?"

"Sure." He stood up and Raquel stretched her arms out before heading to the living room and turned on the television and there were Christmas movies playing on the Hallmark channel. The sprite and mortal settled on the two person couch to watch them in silence. Jack couldn't help but ask a few questions in between some of the commercials, curious about a lot of things.

"How come the snow looks so artificial? I mean I thought they were meant to be Christmas movies yet the yards always seem to be covered in green grass."

"Well, you know they produce the movies in California and sometimes in late summer at other locations while the grass is still green. They can't make a film in the dead of winter and have it out before Christmas time." Raquel had pulled a blanket around her as she leaned on Jack, considering he was colder than she was. "I'm surprised you're not questioning what a television is."

"Well it is the 21st century and I know my way around all this new stuff thanks to Jamie and his friends." He smirked and rest his head back. "Hm…" he glanced at her and smirked a bit more. "Let's have another snowball fight later."

"Heh…you're on." The Dreamer gave a soft giggle and went back to watching the movies with the guardian of fun.

~o~o~

Raquel was snoring softly as she was buried against the dark blue hoodie of Jack's she didn't even know when she did. Jack had even begun to nod off a fair bit because he had gotten tired from watching movies that almost had a pretty repeating element and his head was rest against the back cushion of the sofa.

The Dreamer was soon starting to shift a little bit in an uncomfortable fashion as in her mind that dream had started up again, the same as before, the frost covered trees…her chasing after someone's laughter with a smile until things suddenly had turned dark and dead…that voice whispering in her ear about her fear of being alone, but then she felt a grasp of a cold slender hand traveling up her exposed neck.

"_Aw…what's wrong little one…? Can't handle a touch of loneliness?" his voice came like poisoned honey, she wanted to speak but could only glare at him. "You know you can't trust a Guardian…the only reason they care about you is because you're simply a Dreamer, a source of their strength. You think all this kindness is something they give freely? Well they don't." he continued on as those hands never left the portion of her throat, she could feel the cold finger drum up along close to her voice box. "I can give you something they can't…strength to fight through the loneliness you won't ever need a friend. I do ask for one thing in exchange…" without warning cold fingers seemed to grasp into her throat, searching for something as dark colored sand started to fill her vision and the voice had grown dark and cold, "…Your voice…" he smirked watching the girl just squirm in the pain and agony, trying to scream until the call of a voice brought her back to reality._

"Hey, Raquel wake up!" Jack's voice called loudly, the Guardian had been shaking her, trying to wake her up. "Raquel!" then the blonde just shot up and the top of her head collided onto his forehead and he groaned holding his forehead. "Ow!"

"J-Jack…sorry…so sorry." She panted feeling out of breath as she reached up and touched her throat, she heard her own voice thank goodness "Sorry…" she repeated quietly then she felt his cool hand against her shoulder.

"Are you okay? You were shaking and groaning badly, like you were trying to fight something, are you alright?" he spoke with a voice filled with a lot of concern despite being smacked on the forehead by the other's head. Raquel was rubbing her face feeling the cold damp sweat that had been rolling down and she looked up at Jack.

"It…It was just a dream…"

"A dream…more like a nightmare. Do you remember what happened in it?" He was pressing gingerly trying to get the girl to tell him the truth about what was going on, trying to help her in any way possible.

"I…I've been having this dream for the past few days…" she sighed her shoulders sagging, reaching back and feeling the dampness of her hairline. "…It starts out the same way, I'm along a forest path with frost covered trees, and I'm following someone…someone laughing, guiding me. When I feel like I'm close suddenly everything goes dark…almost dead…grey and bleak."

"What happened afterwards?"

"Well you see, it stops there from time to time, but right now it's starting to advance, someone is behind me, someone with a dark malevolent presence is talking to me…speaking in my ear about loneliness…about how the Guardians aren't really trying to befriend me except for a source of power, then he reached up here and…" she touched her throat and shivered. "…He was trying to rip out my voice…but then you woke me up…"

Jack frowned deeply, watching her. "Someone dark…trying to tell us that we're trying to trick you? Who would be…" then it seemed to click and he got up quickly from the sofa and picked up his staff. "I have to go to the Pole."

"Jack?" Raquel looked at him as the Guardian of fun had a serious look upon his face as he was opening the window.

"Look, I'll be back okay? Just…stay safe, keep those snow globes close at all times. I'll come back for you." With that he climbed out the window and shut it, flying along the wind and out of sight. Raquel frowned and looked to the window watching him leave. She had never seen him so serious before and she sighed sitting on the couch, rubbing her forehead a little from the sweat and pulled the blanket close, the best thing she could do with this situation was trust in him to the best of her abilities. As she closed her eyes trying to clear her head, black sand skittered across her window and out of sight as quick as it came.

~o~o~

Angel Ayami's note: It's been a long time since I updated this fanfiction and I'm sorry about that, my college classes got in the way and my inspiration had run dry until I got Rise of the Guardians in my Easter present. So for those who have been patient thank you, and I'm sorry it probably isn't very long, but the plot is thickening! I hope you enjoyed it, kisses~! Leave a review if you would because reviews make me happy!


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